Page 102 of Royally Matched
“A game?” Sofia questions.
“Yes. The game that sent us here with this mystery tosolve.” I roll the scroll back up. “Thank you so much, professor. I’ll be sure to let the game master know how great you’ve been in this. I’m certain the company that runs this game we’re playing will be very happy to know you played your part so well, and I bet they’ll offer you compensation next time.”
“Err… thank you?” he replies, clearly confused.
“Now, we really have to get going because we need to tell the others what we found.” I rise to my feet. “Enjoy the rest of your day. I think it’s going to be warm and sunny. Come on, Hadley. Time to get back to the others and tell them we’ve won the game!”
Sofia stands, mumbling her thanks to Dr. Esposito. I take her by the hand and lead her up the street toward her car, my head spinning.
“Marco, do you know what this means?” she guffaws.
“I do, but we don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s get in the car, okay?”
“Okay,” she agrees.
We reach the relative safety of the car and slip inside. Immediately, I turn to face her.
“If this scroll is authentic, then you are the next in line for the throne.”
“I’m the heir,” she says, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“You are, if this decree is the real deal.” I hold the scroll up.
Sofia regards it with wide eyes. “It seems too fantastical to be true.”
“It’s what you’ve always wanted, though. To be your father’s heir.”
She nods, her features drawn. “It’s almost too much to take in right now.” She shifts in her seat. “But why would someone give you the riddle to solve anonymously, a riddlethat ends with me learning I’m the next queen of Ledonia? It makes no sense.”
I press my lips together. “I think I know.”
Her brows spring up. “You do?”
“I think your sister might be behind this.”
“Amelia? Why ever on earth would Amelia want to send us off to solve this riddle?”
I chew on my lip, aware that I’ve been holding my conversation with her sister a secret all this time, the conversation during which Amelia suggested we find people for our respective siblings so that they could know what true love is.
How will Sofia take it? Will she laugh it off as one of her little sister’s crazy scams? Or will she see it the way I’ve grown to see it. That Amelia’s plan was for Sofia to find the man who was right for her:me.
I take a breath and level her with my gaze. “The day we attended that event in the throne room your sister asked me what I thought of the match between you and Enzo. She wasn’t a fan.”
She shrugs. “That’s putting it gently. I think her words were something along the lines of ‘how can you ever go through with such a ridiculous thing?’”
Taken aback, I ask, “So, you knew?”
“I knew Amelia wanted me to fall in love rather than have an arranged marriage. She kept carrying on about finding the sizzle.”
“The… sizzle?”
“You know, those feelings you get when you’re really attracted to someone of the opposite sex.”
“I’m aware of those feelings.” My lips curve into a brief smile before it drops away.
She looks down at her hands. “What exactly did Amelia say to you?” she asks.
“She came up with a plan she wanted my buy-in on. She wanted us to work together to find people for you each to fall in love with to show you what you’d be missing if you went through with your arrangement. By giving me the riddle, she would guess I would bring it to you, which would mean we were thrown together.”